Comradeship
by Dark Phoenix Rising
Summary: It's their final mission and also the end of their partnership. But who is the first to go? Snake or Otacon? MGS4 Ost Track Spoiler! Please leave a review and don't just read!


Call me Hal

Titel: Call me Hal

Spoiler: MGS4 OST Song

Pairing: Snake/Otacon

Rating: PG-13

I wanted to write a short story to this song, since it's so sad and it indicates something bad. : (

At my reading speed it fits the time of the track. You should listen to it. The song's great.

**Call me Hal**

The explosion tore him off his feet and sent him backwards against a stone wall. As soon as the stars stopped dancing in front of his eyes Snake shook his head and looked around. His eyes widened when he saw the thick smoke that rose into the air, the fire where the smoke came from and the remains of the helicopter, which had been hovering above him just seconds ago.

"Otacon…," Snake said hoarsely and got up to run over, just to freeze on the spot in blank horror. Trapped underneath the remains of the helicopter and the face and dark hair dirty with blood and dust lay the only person he trusted blindly with his life. The light grayish clothes were hardly recognizable anymore and Snake noticed that blood was beginning to seep through the fabric. Too quickly, as he noticed. "Otacon?" he asked, coughed as he inhaled smoke and reached carefully out to touch his friend's face. He looked so young without the glasses… The old warrior remembered how he had first laughed about his friend's decision to buy contacts just for the battlefield. "Otacon?"

Hearing the voice from afar, the engineer turned his head slowly and looked at the person above him through half closed eyes. "S…nake?"

"Yeah, I'm here…"

"What….happened?" the Otaku slurred and wondered why his voice sounded so strange or why thinking and speaking was so incredibly hard.

"He shot you down. The helicopter crashed against the wall…," Snake explained and helped his friend to sit up a bit as this one began to cough up blood. Hate and sorrow mixed on the old man's face. He knew it was over…

"'s not looking good, huh?" Otacon whispered in his daze and leant against the man's chest.

"No… No, it's not…"

Heaving agonizing deep breaths, the younger man grabbed the older one's hand and clenched his eyes shut. "Hurts…," he managed to say through clenched teeth and felt how his partner pulled him closer.

Snake looked down the engineer's body, tried to figure out where the man was hurt. But the only thing he was able to guess was that the machine must have hit some artery. There was just too much blood seeping out of the wound he was unable to see. "I know," he replied and his jaw clenched. "Something must have sliced an artery open… But I can't see the wound." He felt how Otacon unclenched his hand again, the breathing becoming even harder. "I'm sorry…," was all the old soldier could come up with.

"'s okay…," his best friend replied and closed his eyes briefly. "I've finally broken my curse…"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm…not always…the survivor after all," Otacon said under great effort and coughed up even more blood.

"Don't say that, Otacon." Snake shook his head. "You did great… I wouldn't have come that far, if it wasn't for you."

"Great team, huh?" the engineer whispered and closed his eyes slowly, hardly feeling the pain anymore.

"Best team there is," Snake smiled sadly and pulled the man closer as the weak chuckle turned into a coughing fit. "Thanks, Otacon. For everything…"

"Please…," Otacon said barely audible and tried to fill his burning lungs for a while longer.

"What?" the soldier asked and bent forward a bit to be able to understand the man better.

"Call me Hal…," he heard his best friend saying almost inaudible. "Please,…call me Hal, Dave…"

Nodding, Snake swallowed hard. "See you on the other side…, Hal," he replied and thought he had gotten a weak smile from his partner, before this one's hand dropped lifelessly to the ground…

**I know it's short, but I wanted the story to fit the length of the song.**

**Please review and don't forget: I'm NOT a native speaker. My mother tongue's German. ; ) I did the beta on my own and hope that I found all mistakes in it.**


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